Frozen Heart
by Fatal Divide
Summary: After the events of Final Fantasy 8, Squall's life isn't any less complicated. This story is basically just a fictional version of events after FF8


Frozen Hearts  
  
Squall jolted awake, as the dark nightmare he had been experiencing reached it's disturbing end. He sat up, beads of sweat rolling down his face. The dream was a clear as ever, a sorceress glaring down at him. Everything was still dark, and glancing at the clock Squall noted the time to be 4:25 am. Leaning back against the wall, he breathed heavily, and closed his eyes. Why did he keep experiencing that same dream, that same nightmare? They had defeated Ultimecia...Maybe it was another sorceress? The thought caused a pain in his chest, and he glanced down at Rinoa who was peacefully sleeping beside him. She was a sorceress...  
Standing, Squall silently padded across to the open window. A gentle breeze blew the curtains from side to side, and ruffled his dark hair. The Garden was back to normal again, with a few exceptions. Rinoa and Irvine were now SeeD students at Balamb, and the Garden itself had returned to it's original site. But the ability of flight was still an available option. Squall sighed and leaned on the window sill. He wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now...Dressing as quietly as he could, he grabbed his Lionheart and headed to the Training Centre.  
His footsteps echoed around the silent corridor as he turned into the Training Centre. The moonlight shoe eerily, as Squall walked cautiously forward. It was unnaturally quiet. Even at night you could normally hear the monsters, but now he heard nothing...He stopped as he reached room where Quistis had told him that she was quitting her job as an instructor. It seemed so long ago...He remembered how he had coldly shrugged her off, and made his way into the moonlit room. He stared up at the Garden, just as he had done before. It was peaceful, quiet...  
The silence was broken as a yell echoed out from outside, causing Squall to swing round, just in time to see Zell pounding the last bit of health out of a monster. He celebrated proudly as the monster disappeared, before finally noticing Squall in the doorway.  
"'S'up Squall?" he asked cheerily, but Squall turned away, uninterested. He'd hadn't come here to put up with Zell, and he hoped he would take a hint and leave.  
"Yo, what you doing here so late?" asked Zell, walking up beside him. Squall sighed.  
'No such luck', he thought silently, as Zell leaned against the wall, obviously preparing himself for a long talk...  
There was silence for a bit, with Squall unkeen to say anything about his strange dreams and Zell waiting impatiently for an answer. It was Zell who finally broke the uncomfortable silence.  
"Hey, come on man. Tell me..." he bugged Squall, punching him playfully on the arm. Squall continued to ignore him, not even turning. Zell looked puzzled, and wondered why Squall would be ignoring him.  
"Have you fallen out with Rinoa?" he asked cautiously. Squall shook his head, but still said nothing...Another deadly silence followed, in which it became more and more obvious to Zell that his attempts at conversation with Squall were pointless. Sighing, he turned and walked to the doorway. "See ya round, man..." he said, but received no reply again. Shrugging his shoulders, he left silently, leaving Squall alone with his thoughts...  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Squall entered his room, closing the door as quietly as he could behind him. But it was pointless, as he turned and saw Rinoa staring at him, hands on hips in her usual frustrated position.  
"Squall...why'd you go off like that?" she asked, more in concern than anger. Squall shrugged off the question, and folded his arms. He loved Rinoa...but he couldn't tell her about the strange dreams. No need to worry her...Rinoa sighed, and imitated him in a mocking way, folding her arms and putting a grumpy expression on her face. Squall sighed, and walked past her ignoring the joke. Rinoa turned, and stared at Squall. She was very concerned about him. She knew that he normally acted very cold, but this was different. She was sure he was hiding something, but hadn't been able to figure out what yet.  
"Come on, let's get some breakfast..." she ordered him, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him through the door. She had a plan...  
  
Breakfast was going as normal as Rinoa and Squall arrived. Selphie was watching Zell in awe as he ate hotdogs for breakfast, while trying to join in the conversation. As a result, Quistis was also occasionally patting Zell on the back to make sure he didn't choke. Irvine wasn't at the table, but was talking to some female SeeD students on the other side of the canteen. Zell looked up and spotted Rinoa and Squall walking towards them, and waved them over. Pulling up seats, Squall and Rinoa joined their friends, but Squall wasn't in the mood to talk.  
"Where's Irvine?" asked Rinoa, glancing around. Selphie chuckled.  
"He's trying to impress those girls over there..." she laughed, nodding her head towards the other side of the room. "But I don't think he's doing too well..."  
Zell looked up to say something, but was forced into silence as he choked once again on a hotdog. Squall sighed, and continued to stare out the nearby window, interested in neither food or Irvine's attempts at love. His mind was still on the dreams...and what they could possibly mean...He slowly became less and less aware of what was going on around him as his thoughts completely over took him...  
"Hello? Squall?" asked a far off voice, but Squall ignored it. "Squall!!" yelled the voice again, louder this time. Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he found himself face to face with Rinoa, who obviously not best pleased that Squall had drifted off. "Do tell us if we're boring you!" she laughed sarcastically. Zell chuckled, as he pushed his empty plate away.  
"Seeing Laguna again, eh Squall?" he laughed, reminding Squall of the early times when they would be sent into the 'dream world' by Ellone. Squall turned to leave, but Rinoa grabbed his arm. He tried to shale her off, but she held on fast. Sighing, he looked down at Rinoa.  
"What?" he asked stubbornly, as Rinoa looked up at him.  
"I'm not letting go til you tell me what's wrong..." she pleaded. Squall turned and started walking, pulling the struggling Rinoa behind him. Zell and Selphie laughed as they watched Rinoa desperately trying to hold Squall back, with the occasional yells of 'Squall!!' and 'Stop!!'  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Squall gritted his teeth as he carried on walking, a desperate Rinoa clinging onto his jacket. Sighing, he decided that she wasn't going to let go, and stopped abruptly. Rinoa finally released her grip, and looked at Squall, her face bright red.  
"You could have stopped a bit sooner..." she sighed, dusting herself off. Squall smiled slightly, when suddenly the whole Garden seemed to shake with tremendous force. Rinoa was thrown to the floor, as Squall tried desperately to keep his balance. As the shaking stopped, he helped Rinoa to her feet.  
"What was that? An earthquake?" she asked nervously. Squall shook his head. In all his time at Balamb Garden there had never been an earthquake. So what was causing the shaking? He stopped as the Garden shook again, as he held onto Rinoa with one hand and a railing with the other. As the shaking subsided again, the intercom rang out.  
"Squall, this is Headmaster Cid. Come to the Bridge immediately." was the message, and Squall and Rinoa headed carefully along to the lift, stopping every now and again as the shaking increased. As they finally reached the bridge, Headmaster Cid glanced nervously at them.  
"It would appear to be time to get moving again..." he said mysteriously. Squall looked at him puzzled, but his confusion was answered as suddenly a Galabadian ship appeared infront of them.  
"Galabadia? What do they want?" he asked. Rinoa shrugged, but Cid was already formulating a plan.  
"We have to start moving again. We're a sitting duck in the position, and they don't look in the mood to talk..." He was interrupted as suddenly a message came through from the Galabadia ship. It was a simple, but deady message.  
  
Give us the Sorceress or we will destroy you.  
  
Rinoa gasped, and stepped backwards. Headmaster Cid shook his head sadly. "This is a bit of a problem..." He turned to Squall who was supporting a faint looking Rinoa. "Squall, I'll stall them. Find somebody to go down to the lower levels and get the Garden moving again." But Squall was puzzled.  
"We can't do it from here?" he asked, confused. Headmaster Cid shook his head.   
"It's been so long since we moved that the engine has shut down again." he apologised. Squall put his hand on his head and frowned. He knew that he had to hurry for Rinoa's sake, but he couldn't help but be angry that the engine hadn't been looked after. Running back to the lift, he spotted Zell glancing around nervously. He shrugged, Zell wasn't his perfect idea of a partner, but he had to hurry. Zell spotted him as he approached.  
"Yo, Squall! What the hell is going on!?" he asked as yet another Galabadian missile hit the Garden.  
"Come on, we have to go to the Engine room..." he said, pressing for the button in the lift.  
"Huh? WAIT!!" yelled Zell frantically, leaping into the lift just as the doors closed. 


End file.
